Saudi Arabia urged caution as OPEC+ gathered to discuss whether to hike supply again next month, with many countries wary of undermining a fragile recovery.
The kingdom highlighted the new risk to the oil market posed by a more infectious strain of the coronavirus, which has heightened the economic risks even as the roll-out of vaccines has buoyed prices.
“At the risk of being seen as a killjoy in the proceedings, I want to urge caution,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the start of the group’s video conference on Monday. “The new variant of the virus is a worrying and unpredictable development.”
